About Bernhart Associates

Jerry Bernhart is proud to announce that he has been profiled among 11 leading Digital Influencers in the new book, “Digital Influence for Baby Boomers,” by author Janet Granger.

Keep up to date on our newest opportunities, as they’re announced, with our first-of-its-kind Android App, “Bernhart Opportunities”, now available on Google Play.

“Jerry is a ‘must follow’ on LinkedIn” -Marketingterms.com

Welcome to our About page, and I know what you’re thinking: Here comes a bunch of stuff that’s going to tell me how special your search firm is. You’ve already seen some of that on the home page (I tried to keep the shameless self-promotion to a minimum). So, while I still have your attention, I’d like tell you a quick story. I think you’ll like it.

Many years ago I was recruiting a Vice President of Marketing for a large multichannel consumer marketing organization we all know, and the employer wanted to make my candidate an offer. But I wasn’t totally convinced the candidate was prepared to accept. There was one thing standing in the way. You see, this new job would require a much longer commute: He’d be looking at 50 minutes instead of his current 20. He had no problem with that, but he did have concerns about his car which was bordering on clunker-status. He’d been thinking about buying a new one and even had a specific make and model in mind. Problem was, his company wasn’t going to pay a bonus that particular year so he was about $15,000 short. But he really wanted the job.

At that point I put my recruiting process into top gear. I did some research, and discovered that the local dealership that sold the car he liked was having a clearance sale.

My next call went to my client.

“Let’s see what we can do to help him get into that brand new car to get him on your team!” I told my HR contact.

“What?”, she exclaimed with puzzlement. “How do you propose to do THAT?”
“Here’s the plan,” I responded. “You offer him a $10,000 signing bonus, I’ll take the sales tax out of my fee. When he shows up at the dealership, I’ll make sure the red carpet it out, shampooed and shiny. Just leave it to me.”

When my candidate arrived at the dealership for his test-drive, they had coffee and donuts waiting for both him and his wife. I made sure of it. They had the three models he liked best picked out, washed and parked in front of the showroom and ready to roll. I made sure of it. And when he told them which of the models he liked most, I had instructed the salesman to immediately call me and put my candidate on the phone. I informed my candidate that if he accepted my client’s offer by Monday morning, he would receive a $10,000 signing bonus to put towards the purchase of the car, plus I would personally take care of the sales tax. He was ecstatic. My client was happy. I was happy. A true win-win-win.

Could I get YOU a new car? Sorry… your chances are much better on “The Price Is Right.” But the real take away here is that when it comes to executive search, having a large base of connections is great, being trustworthy is very important, and putting the client’s interests first is key. But process is the name of the game. And after 27 years of placing more than 550 candidates, I’ve pretty much got that down cold. And that’s crucial when you’re talking about filling mission-critical positions, hires that ultimately will determine your success.

Now, back to some additional (but captivating) shameless self-promotion!

Where a Trusted Name and Established Reputation Opens Doors to Exceptional Talent

We’re proud to announce the just-completed placements of the first Vice President of Ecommerce for Scotts Miracle-Gro, the first Global Chief Marketing Officer for Appster, and the first Director of Marketing for Swan Global Investments.

The latest numbers are in: 94% of our placed hires have been with our clients for at least two years.
That’s because we put a laser focus on the number one hiring success factor: Cultural fit.

Jerry Bernhart’s e-book,Careers in Ecommerce and Digital Marketing, the first book of its kind on career preparation and present/future employment opportunities in the major specialties of digital marketing, is now available in the Kindle Store on Amazon.

Visit my blog to review my complete library of published content on ecommerce, digital marketing and CRM/Loyalty hiring guidelines and best practices.

For more than 24 years, Bernhart Associates Executive Search, LLC, has been a prominent boutique executive search firm focusing in Digital Marketing, Data-Driven Multichannel Direct Marketing, CRM and Ecommerce across all major industries, agencies and service providers, B2C and B2B. He launched and ran the popular job posting site directmarketingcareers.com, which was ranked twice by CareerXRoads among the top marketing-specific job posting boards on the internet, with more than 600 employers posting jobs at its peak in the late 1990’s. For 15 years, Jerry was also Director of Executive Search for the Database Marketing Institute, founded by database marketing author and pioneer Arthur Hughes, and was among the country’s first recruiters to specialize in database marketing and CRM, becoming a leader in data-driven marketing recruitment.

Jerry has appeared in many leading publications in digital marketing, ecommerce direct marketing and CRM, among them AdAge which featured Jerry in top selling research report, “Smart Marketing Using Big Data”, on how the growing demand for digital analytic talent is impacting recruiting.

Jerry Bernhart participates in the Report on Salary Surveys by Bloomberg BNA, a global business and financial information news leader.

“The State of Digital Media Marketing” conference, held at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. For the past three years, Jerry has joined a panel of distinguished digital marketing and ecommerce experts, authors, thought leaders and college instructors to examine the latest trends in global digital media and the impact on educational curriculum. Check out the video of the first conference in 2013 (Jerry’s segment starts 47:30 into the program).

In February, 2005 and December, 2009, Jerry Bernhart was featured on the cover of Target Marketing Magazine along with other leading experts including DMA Hall of Famers Don Peppers and Martha Rogers and Merkle CEO David Williams, discussing how marketing industry trends are shaping the way digital and data-driven multichannel marketers do business.

Jerry is actively involved in online social media. Be sure to follow us on Twitter for our latest career opportunities and our popular Tweetchat, the only online digital and multichannel marketing employment forum of its kind.

Bernhart Associates conducts research on salary and incentive compensation data. Ask how we can help you ensure that your compensation packages are competitive.
Sample Job Descriptions for Recent Placements:

We do not delegate the all-important tasks of recruiting, interviewing and negotiating to research associates or junior staffers. Jerry Bernhart personally makes each and every contact throughout the entire recruiting process, leveraging his extensive experience, “high recognition” quotient, and nationwide cross-referenced contact network to locate, evaluate and help you hire top performers. This gives your search enormous credibility. You are being represented by a recruiter on the “A” team.

Because we accept a limited number of searches, we are not hamstrung by “off-limits” boundaries. Our candidate pool is practically unlimited. In most instances, we can have qualified candidates on your desk within just two weeks.

We highly value our client relationships. We immediately notify you when we surface extraordinary talent, we offer you guarantees on every search and we offer extended terms for companies in a financial pinch.

We believe digital, multichannel marketing, ecommerce, analytics and CRM recruiting is an ever-changing process, requiring different methodologies and approaches as market conditions dictate, so we regularly attend seminars and conferences to stay on top of best practices in digital and multichannel marketing plus the latest trends in recruitment, search and placement in this specialized field. Jerry Bernhart has given roundtable sessions on negotiation skills at national direct marketing conferences, so you’ll know that your search is in the hands of a highly skilled negotiator.